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Endymion

Mythology
Pronunciation

Understanding ARPABET Pronunciation

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The pronunciation guide uses the ARPABET phonetic system—the same system used in speech recognition and text-to-speech applications.

Vowel Examples:
AE1 = cat, bat
EH1 = bed, head
IY1 = see, me
OW1 = go, boat
UW1 = boot, do
Stress Numbers:
0 = no stress (unstressed)
1 = primary stress (loud)
2 = secondary stress (medium)
Example:
AH0 TH IY1 N AH0
= a-THEE-na (Athena)

The stressed syllable (marked with 1) is pronounced louder and clearer than others.

Quick Definition

A beautiful mortal shepherd granted eternal sleep and youth by Zeus so the moon goddess Selene could visit him forever in his cave.

Detailed Definition
Endymion, a beautiful mortal, was granted eternal slumber by Zeus so the moon goddess Selene could visit him forever. His myth symbolizes idealized, unchanging beauty and passive love. In poetry, he often represents the dreamer, the object of desire, and the suspension of time in romantic longing.
Example
Example in poetry:
Endymion, the shepherd loved by Selene, sleeps eternally in Keats’s poem “Endymion”; In Apollonius’s Argonautica, Endymion’s fate is mentioned as a lunar myth; Theocritus alludes to Endymion’s eternal youth in pastoral idylls; Ovid references his slumber in Ars Amatoria as a lover’s dream; Renaissance sonnets use Endymion to symbolize idealized beauty; Modern poetry reinterprets Endymion as a metaphor for suspended time.
Additional Notes
Endymion, a mortal loved by Selene (moon goddess), was granted eternal sleep and youth; his myth symbolizes idealized beauty, passive desire, and the lover frozen in time—Keats’ Endymion reimagines him as a quest for beauty; useful in romantic or contemplative poetry about longing and stasis.
Also Known As
Moon-Loved Shepherd Eternal Sleeper Endymiōn
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